This richly illustrated history chronicles one of the most revolutionary developments in freight railroading during the twentieth century: intermodal shipping, or the use of containers to move cargo between trains, trucks, and oceangoing vessels. It was a development that transformed the movement of freight around the world, with an almost incalculable impact on American industry. Intermodal railroading in North America begins tentatively, with attempts at piggybacking in the 1930s, before moving on to more serious developments in the period from World War II through the 1960s, notably by Canadian Pacific and the New Haven and Southern Pacific railroads. After looking at early intermodal technology and traffic, particularly the formation of pioneering equipment manufacturer and provider TTX, author Brian Solomon turns to the contemporary period. His account of mighty changes in North American shipping ranges from the implications of deregulation and various railroad mergers, to the emergence of partnerships between railroads and trucking and shipping firms. In addition to railroads like Conrail, BNSF, and CSX, this comprehensive history features trucking, freight delivery, and forwarding firms such as J. B. Hunt, Sea-Land, Maersk, and K-Line. It also considers the importance of specialized modern rolling stock, motive power, loading equipment, and intermodal hubs including South Kearney, Seattle, Long Beach, Oakland, and Houston.

An up-to-date history of intermodal equipment and operations with photos and descriptions of prototype intermodal railcars, loads, and yard equipment. Includes instructions for modeling intermodal transportation on a layout of any scale.

With a quarter of a century behind it, Norfolk Southern is one of the oldest Class 1 railroads operating in North America. This illustrated history tells how Norfolk Southern came to be what it is today, from the merger of two of American railroadings most legendary roads-- Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western--through its rise to the heights of the worlds leading transportation companies. After a concise history of the roads that became Norfolk Southern, author Richard Borkowski explores the railroads corporate history and operating structure and details the specific operations that go into the lines customer-oriented approach, including its vast intermodal network. Along with each of Norfolk Southerns 11 operating divisions, this book offers a close look at NS motive power, a wealth of color photographs, and a specially commissioned system map.

This book gives an account of how the U.S. freight transportation system has been impacted and “globalized,” since the 1950s, by the presence of the shipping container. A globally standardized object, the container carries cargo moving in international trade, and it utilizes and fits within the existing transportation infrastructures of shipping, trucking and railroads. In this way it binds them together into a nearly seamless worldwide logistics network. This process occurs not only in ocean shipping and at ports, but also deep within national territories. In its dependence on existing infrastructural systems, though, the network of container movement as it pervades domestic space is shaped by the history and geography of the nation-state. This global network is not invariably imposed in a top-down manner—to a large degree, it is cobbled together out of national, regional and local systems. Heins describes this in the American context, examining the freight transportation infrastructures of railroads, trucking and inland waterways, and also the terminals where containers are transferred between train and truck. The book provides a detailed historical narrative, and is also theoretically informed by the contemporary literature on infrastructure and globalization.

Celebrate over 150 years of the North American railroad with this visual history. You'll be amazed by over 400 modern and vintages photographs of these trains!